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AUSTRALIA
Renewable energy and climate change are in the news – but mainly for political reasons. It is still possible for the Liberal Coalition to persuade one or more Independents to go for a double dissolution of Federal Parliament. The Coalition then they might be able to put a stop to developments in renewable energy – ones that are being contracted by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) , and are due to commence on July 1.
Even if the election does not happen until September 14, Australia’s Opposition Party has been able to frighten off many renewable energy investments with their promise to repeal the carbon tax, and shut down the CEFC and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
All the same, Clean Energy Australia Report showed record renewable energy use in Australia in 2012.
In Geraldton, W.A. a large solar array has just come into operation.
In South Australia a final government decision is due soon on the Keyneton wind farm.
From today, residents of tiny King Island can vote on whether or not to allow for a feasibility study into hosting the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere. Opponents, led by the Waubra Foundation, have hired a Sydney public relations firm to lobby residents for ”no” vote.
Uranium price has hit 4 year record low, casting doubt on the future of Toro Energy’s Wiluna project in Western Australia. This would have been W.A.’s first uranium mine.
Julian Assange. Well, if you want any help from the Australian government – make sure that you do a drug crime, or manslaughter or something like that. Don’t expect any help if you just showed a video about US army atrocities in Afghanistan, or revealed cables in the public interest. Australia’s Foreign Minister, Bob Carr has made it pretty clear that the government is not interested in helping Julian Assange, (under investigation by USA for ‘treasonable’ offences)
INTERNATIONAL
Well there are a lot of big stories out there – Warren Buffett and MidAmerican scrapping nuclear plans and going for wind energy instead, - San Onofre nuclear plant (California) looking ever less likely to restart, – Japan’s PM Abe marketing and pushing for nuclear power - Fukushima radioactive groundwater leaking into the stricken reactors – China boosting renewable energy world-wide.
But the most interesting story is the press release coming out from The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). UNSCEAR is to produce a full report on Fukushima radiation, in October this year. UNSCEAR is subservient to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , whch vets all its publications. UNSCEAR is made up largely of scientists from the nuclear industry. Its chairman, Wolfgang Weiss is a boss on Euratom, a marketing body for nuclear power.
Meanwhile UNSCEAR’s preliminary report press release this week, about Fukushima, is being publicised worldwide. It states a rather vague, but remarkably reassuring view that Fukushima radiation will not harm anybody. This view contrasts with the February 2013 World Health Organisation report, which found that for the Fukushima radaiation affected community, a rise in breast cancer in girls, and in leukaemia in clean-up workers is to be expected – in later years.
Space travel. Apparently the same sort of ionising radiation is bad news in space, and NASA etc are a bit downcast as they predict this will give Mars astronauts a big cancer risk.